How long does it take to get addicted to speed? Not long, aboard the foiling trimaran, l’Hydroptère DCNS. The big, French “water wing” holds the nautical-mile record at 50.17 knots and now has its sights set on a Los Angeles-Honolulu record.

You’re not going to win America’s Cup 34 without sexy foils to keep the leeward bow floating, or flying, high. This is an area of development just as important as wings for the next generation of Cup-hopeful catamarans.

We’ve now wrapped up the 2011-12 America’s Cup World Series, and the AC45 fleet is headed into the 2012-13 series with the first regattas set to take place on San Francisco Bay. So what have we learned so far?

Back in days gone by, before rumbling speedboats and thundering Spring Break coeds discovered Lake Havasu, this was a place for sailing. A wide spot on the Colorado River 448 feet above sea level (a product of the Parker Dam), Havasu was a desert haven with vistas of jagged peaks and winters infused with sunshine and warmth.

One day is all that was needed for proof of concept of Sunsail's newest base, located on the northern reach of San Francisco Bay. Here in the center of a booming tech industry, at the gateway to the California wine country, on the cusp of an America's Cup year.

As community sailing centers go, the Orange Coast College School of Sailing & Seamanship is quite a bit more than the ordinary. Now, however, it is time to begin a long goodbye to a centerpiece of the program, round-the-world race winner Alaska Eagle.

Hulls for Oracle Racing’s two AC72s, the second of which will launch next February, are being built in San Francisco. Wings for both are coming out of Core Builders Composites in New Zealand, where the team plans to move its first AC72 for winter training. T